WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- More than 3,000 soldiers from the 101st Airborne will deploy to Afghanistan by early summer 2010 as part of a U.S. military surge, the Defense Department said.
The Pentagon announced roughly 3,400 soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division will deploy from their base in Fort Campbell, Ky., to Afghanistan by early summer 2010.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates approved the deployment of 2,600 troops earlier this month. Those troops are scheduled to arrive in Afghanistan in the spring.
U.S. President Barack Obama in an address to the nation Dec. 1 announced he would commit 30,000 U.S. troops to join the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
Defense planners in early 2009 gave dour assessments of the progress of the military effort in Afghanistan.
U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before lawmakers on Capitol Hill this month, saying the level of violence in Afghanistan was 60 percent higher than 2008 levels.
"Certainly from that standpoint, we're not winning," he said. "And in an insurgency, you're either winning or you're losing."
Mullen said his top officers began calling on foot soldiers and civil affairs experts to stand ready within 72 hours of the presidential speech.
